The invention relates to surgical stapler assemblies, and more particularly to surgical stapler assemblies with interchangeable heads for connecting tubular prostheses of different sizes with an organic duct such as a blood vessel or artery of a similar size.
In the repair of the aorta with a tubular graft prosthesis, surgeons often wrap the end of the sectioned descending aorta with a length of PTFE felt and suture the felt to the aorta to form a cuff. The graft prosthesis is then sutured to the felt cuff to complete the procedure. Quite often, valuable time is lost attempting to suture the felt cuff onto the end of the aorta which is sometimes friable, and will not adequately hold the suture. In turn, this lengthens the time that the aorta is damped shut.
It would be desirable to have available an assembly which would rapidly attach the felt cuff to the end of the aorta so that the procedure can be done quickly and efficiently.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,115 to Perouse et al. discloses a surgical staple inserter for joining two ducts such as a blood vessel and a blood prosthesis. The staple inserter ejects staples in a radial direction relative to the axis of the ducts. In one embodiment, the patent discloses a staple holder surrounded by the prosthesis and containing a series of staples arranged in at least one ring. All the staples are ejected simultaneously. The staple inserter also includes an anvil outside the organic duct and a device for spacing apart the anvil and the staple holder in relation to their relative working positions. The points of the staples project from the staple inserter and hold the prosthesis in place during the insertion of the staple holder into the ducts.
One drawback of the device in Perouse et al. is that a complete assembly of the staple inserter is required for different sizes of aorta. The size of the aorta can vary from 12 to 14 mm on the small end to 24 to 26 mm on the large end. Unfortunately, the surgical staple inserter of Perouse et al. is designed for one size only.
Other U.S. Patents of interest include U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,312 to Toledano; U.S. Pat. No. 5,810,240 to Robertson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,872 to Bolduc et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,755 to Dakov; U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,053 to Bilotti et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,638 to Tzakis.
The present invention uses a set of heads sized to accommodate various organic duct sizes which are interchangeably positioned on the end of the handle. The plurality of heads allows each head to be used with a single handle. Thus, by stocking a set or sets of the replaceable heads, only a small inventory of the handles is required. With just a single handle, a variety of sizes of heads are available to be used to accommodate the correct size of the patient""s organic duct.
The present invention provides a surgical stapler assembly for joining a tubular prosthesis to an organic duct such as a blood vessel or artery. The surgical stapler assembly includes a handle and a set of interchangeable heads attachable to a distal end of the handle. Each head comprises a staple holder which includes a plurality of radially arranged staples, an anvil disposed concentrically opposite the staples, and an annular gap between the staples and the anvil for receiving the prosthesis and the end of the organic duct. The annular gap of each head in the set has a different median diameter for use with prostheses and organic ducts of different diameters. A plurality of hammers can be provided for ejecting the staples through the prosthesis and organic duct in the annular gap and oto the anvils.
The heads are preferably replaceably attachable to the distal end of the handle. The annular gap is preferably enlargable to facilitate insertion and removal of the organic duct into and from the annular gap, prior to and following ejection of the staples. Each of the interchangeable heads is preferably premounted with a tubular prosthesis having an inside diameter approximating an inside diameter of the annular gap. The handle can indude a proximal end operable for controlling ejection of the staples. Each head can include an inner tubular member housing the staples and an outer member carrying the anvil. The inner and outer members are preferably secured together at a proximal end of the annular gap.